Poetic realism was a film movement in France leading up to World War II. More a tendency than a movement, Poetic Realism is not strongly unified like Soviet Montage or French Impressionism. Its leading filmmakers were Jean Renoir, Pierre Chenal, Jean Vigo, Julien Duvivier, and Marcel Carné. Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Simone Signoret and Michèle Morgan starred in many Poetic Realist films. The films center on marginalized characters who get a last chance at love, but are ultimately disappointed. They have a tone of nostalgia and bitterness. They are "poetic" because of a heightened aestheticism that sometimes draws attention to the representational aspects of the films. The movement had a significant impact on later film movements, in particular Italian neorealism (many of the neorealists, most notably Luchino Visconti, worked with poetic realist directors before starting their own careers as film critics and directors) and the French New Wave. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Film editing, also called montage, is the connecting of one or more shots together in a sequence. ... Impressionism was a 19th century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists who began publicly exhibiting their art in the 1860s. ... Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (September 15, 1894 – February 12, 1979), born in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris, France was a film director. ... Jean Vigo (April 26, 1905 – October 5, 1934) was a short-lived French film director, who helped in the establishment of poetic realism in film in the 1930s and went on to be a posthumous influence on the French nouvelle vague of the late 1950s and early 1960s. ... Julien Duvivier (October 8, 1896 in Lille - October 30, 1967 in Paris) was a French film director. ... Marcel Carné (August 18, 1906 - October 31, 1996) was an important French film director. ... Jean Gabin (May 17, 1904 – November 15, 1976) was a major French actor and war hero. ... French actor, b. ... Simone Signoret (March 25, 1920 - September 30, 1985), was an Academy Award-winning French actress. ... Michele Morgan Michèle Morgan (born Simone Renée Roussel on February 29, 1920 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) is a French actress. ... Italian neorealism is a film movement which started in 1943 with Ossessione and ended in 1952 with Umberto D.. The movement is characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed in long takes on location, frequently using non-actors for secondary and sometimes primary roles. ... Luchino Visconti, Duke of Modrone (November 2, 1906 - March 17, 1976) was an Italian theatre and cinema director and writer. ... François Truffauts New Wave film Jules et Jim The New Wave (French: la Nouvelle Vague) was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced (in part) by Italian Neorealism. ...

Notable films:

• La Petite Lise (1930) by Jean Grémillon
• La rue sans nom (1934) by Pierre Chenal
• Crime et châtiment (1935) by Pierre Chenal
• La belle equipe (1936) by Julien Duvivier
• Pépé le Moko (1937) by Julien Duvivier
• Le Quai des brumes (1938) by Marcel Carné
• Hôtel du nord (1938) by Marcel Carné
• Le jour se lève (1939) by Marcel Carné
• Children of Paradise (1945) by Marcel Carné